Peaceful settlement of territorial disputes.

• Author: Talamas, Magdalena

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The "Fund for Peace: Peaceful Settlement of Territorial Disputes" was formally established in June 2000 when the OAS foreign ministers gathered at the General Assembly in Windsor Canada and adopted Resolution 1756 aimed at strengthening the Organization's capacity in peace-building and conflict resolution.

The Peace Fund, as it is most commonly known, is a mechanism designed to enable the OAS to react swiftly to provide financial resources to OAS member states in an unforeseen crisis involving a territorial dispute. It is also designed to increase the General Secretariat's knowledge and experience in the fields of conflict resolution and territorial dispute settlements. It includes a General Fund, which provides seed money during unanticipated conflicts, and sub-funds established for specific disputes. The Peace Fund is open to contributions from OAS member states, permanent observers, and other states, as well as other entities, including companies and individuals. The Peace Fund operates within the OAS Secretariat for Political Affairs, through its Department of Democratic Sustainability and Special Missions.

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The Peace Fund is more than a simple financing tool, however. By jointly appealing to the OAS for assistance in peacefully resolving a territorial dispute, parties in conflict can avail themselves of a range of conflict resolution mechanisms provided for in the OAS Charter. These include direct negotiation, good offices, mediation, investigation and conciliation, judicial settlement, arbitration, and any other mechanism to which the parties jointly agree.

The first case that the Peace Fund addressed was a maritime boundary dispute between Honduras and Nicaragua. In December 1999, at the request of both governments, the OAS Permanent Council convened a special session to address the tensions that had arisen as a result of a boundary dispute in the Caribbean Sea. In the ensuing months, the OAS held four rounds of talks with the Honduran and Nicaraguan foreign ministers. Working with the OAS, Honduras and Nicaragua signed a series of agreements committing to peaceful relations while the substance of their boundary dispute was sent to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In the meantime, the OAS implemented a series of confidence-building measures aimed at reducing tensions. This included communications between the two countries' armed forces, restrictions on military activities...